


Walk This World Alone

by decotex



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Multi, Slow Burn, because we all love the angsty sith kid that is kylo ren, its funny also i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 04:58:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5571921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/decotex/pseuds/decotex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This "Kylo Ren" guy sure gets around. Rey keeps running into him in the strangest places. </p><p>Feat. an especially sassy pilot, Rey & Finn going through Kylo Ren's medicine cabinet, at least eighty Stormtroopers, and the usual amount of Kylo Ren angst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stuartprincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stuartprincess/gifts).



“Rey to Red-1; Incoming on your starboard side. Over.”

_“Red - 1 to Rey; I’m very aware. Please refrain from backseat flying. Over.”_

It was a terrible thing to be stuck on the ground, Rey thought as she stared up into the sky. Above them, tiny ships flew at impossible speeds, shooting at each other or at the enormous frigate that was slowly starting to block out the sun. Red - 1, Poe’s ship, careened between two fighters to take out a large turret on the bottom of the frigate.

_“Red - 1 to Rey; Apologies for the attitude. It’s not you, it’s me. Over.”_

Rey looked at Finn, who was following the movement of the ships through binoculars.

“He’s in a mood.”

“Those exhaust fumes are finally getting to him.”

The attack on Imdalia was going about as well as the Resistance had hoped, which is to say they’d lost two ships but still technically had a chance to take out the First Order’s frigate before it was able to deliver its shipment of weapons to their headquarters. She’d be up there with them, if she hadn’t blown the third capacitor of the Millennium Falcon two days ago with a badly timed lightspeed jump.

_“Red - 1 to Rey; Please resume backseat flying. It gets lonely up here. Over.”_

A First Order ship exploded in a flaming ball of wreckage, which dropped from the sky toward the Imdalian sea.

 _“General to all ships,”_ echoed Leia’s voice over the comm system, before Rey could respond. _“Focus all attacks on the frigate. There’s only two enemy fighters remaining.”_

_“Three.”_

_“Red - 1; Repeat that.”_

_“Three enemy ships remaining. Over.”_

Rey frowned. “Three? There aren’t-”

And then from behind the frigate, a small black fighter flew into the battle. It sent two smoking Resistance fighters into the sea before anyone realized what was happening, and then turned straight for Poe.

_“General to Red - 1: Can you lose him? Over.”_

_“Red - 1 to General: Of course. But on the off chance that I can’t, I am requesting backup. Immediately. Please. Over.”_

It was fast, she’d give it that. The black fighter trailed Poe relentlessly, as they dove in and out, trading shots. It was the first time in a long time she’d seen any single pilot be an equal match for Poe. It was clearly the first time in a long time for Poe as well, as his breathing over the comms grew erratic and explicit.

“Rey to Red - 1; Standing by to drag you out of the sea when this beast of a First Order pilot takes you down. Over.”

_“Red - 1 to Rey: I appreciate your confidence and positive thoughts. Over.”_

Poe flew up to the frigate, keeping close to its bottom in an attempt to lose the fighter. The black fighter followed without pause, dodging the metal and parts that stuck out of the frigate easily.

“It’s Ren.”

“What?”

“That’s Kylo Ren.”

“How do you know?”

Without lowering the binoculars, Finn frowned. “Saw him fly a fighter once. Reflexes like nothing you’ve ever seen. He wasn’t even trained. Just kind of took to it.”

“Should we tell Poe?”

“Why? To scare him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it would make him feel better, to know he’s fighting a Sith Lord instead of a trained pilot.”

 _“Red - 1 to the two chatterboxes; It doesn’t. Over.”_  
\---  
In the end neither ship went down, but Ren did manage to occupy Poe long enough for the badly damaged First Order frigate to get away.

Poe jumped out of his ship after landing and fell to the ground immediately, coughing. Smoke poured out of the cockpit.

He waved Finn and Rey away when they ran to help.

“Jedi and their freaky superhuman skills,” he rasped. “I’m done with them."

“He’s a Sith.”

“Whatever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carson made me do it. 
> 
> Gonna try to publish regularly. I have a second chapter finished which will be up tomorrow for sure. I was considering doing one of those "5 times _____, and 1 time _____" style fics but I really want to get to the last thing I have planned. Maybe there will be five chapters building up to it! Maybe there will be two! Who knows? Not me!
> 
> I don't usually take titles from songs but if there was ever a character whose fic needed to be named after a My Chemical Romance song, Kylo Ren is it. (Famous Last Words)
> 
> Also, I'm publishing this on my main account instead of my explicit/shame-based one (AfterDarcotex). 
> 
> This may be a mistake.


	2. Chapter 2

Monument 6 was a strange place. It seemed to be composed entirely of enormous slabs of ice and slate stacked on top of each other, like the world’s most unnecessary rock sculpture. Small bushes and trees inexplicably grey out of cracks in the rocks.

Kylo Ren stood atop the tallest of these towers, arms crossed and cape blowing in the wind. He cut an imposing silhouette against the white sky.

Poe elbowed Rey. “I bet he’d trade his entire fleet for a big lightning flash behind him right now.”

“Do you think he practices that pose in front of the mirror before bed every night?”

“Right after he finishes redesigning his helmet to look more like Darth Vader’s helmet but not too similar to be obvious. In his opinion, anyway.”

“Let’s go,” said Leia, who was actually wearing a cape herself and looked overall very appropriately dressed for negotiations with The Enemy.

“Kick him in the balls for me,” offered Poe, giving Rey a sucks-to-be-you pat on the back.  
\---  
Of course Ren jumped.

Rey probably should have expected it. He was hardly going to climb down the rock tower, yelling things like, “Just one moment!” and “Almost there!” while the Resistance convoy broke out a pack of cards at the bottom.

She couldn’t help feeling alarmed anyway, though, when Ren stepped off the tower, plummeted fifty-feet downwards in a blur of black, and then landed in a crouch at the bottom.

“Bravo,” said Rey as he stood, because she had to get a jab in somewhere for Poe.

Ren ignored her, as far as she could tell.

“We’ve come to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Monument 6 conflict,” said Leia.

“The First Order has no such preferences. We have agreed to meet with you only to give you the option of an unconditional surrender.”

Rey noted his use of the royal we, because unlike Leia he’d come alone. She wondered why no one else had come. Maybe no one had wanted to.

“This fight has been a sink for both of our resources and people. Your supply ships are cut off at the Aeglian Pass. You are facilitating a siege on your own troops. If we continue to fight, you will lose.”  
   
Ren was silent for a long moment. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. For all they knew, he’d just spontaneously died and was only being kept upright by the starch in his armor.

“The Aeglian Pass.” He sounded a little bit doubtful.

“Yes. We took the pass yesterday.”

“Did you.”

“You didn’t know?” said Rey. “You didn’t know. No one told you. The First Order should improve its communication systems.”

“Evidently.”

There was a pause, as he considered them. Probably.

“You’re bluffing,” he said finally, sounding mostly confident but also like he wanted confirmation.

Rey, who was not about to give it to him, watched a long insect crawl over her right boot.

“Tell me,” he said.

“We are here for peaceful-”

 _“Tell me."_ And this time he pulled out his lightsaber.

There was yelling from behind them. Rey hoped whatever was going on looked fairly imposing.

“We agreed not to bring weapons,” Leia reminded him calmly.

“That’s, just,” Rey stuttered. She wouldn’t lie, she was intimidated. “That’s just bad sportsmanship.”

“The First Order doesn’t play sports.” He sounded almost put out about it.

“A truce, then,” said Leia. “Temporarily. Seven days. To conserve our resources.”

Ren thought about it. Rey wished he’d take off the helmet. The long silences were unnerving.

“Agreed.”

He deactivated his lightsaber and turned on his heel, evoking a dramatic swish from his various cloaks and capes.

As he walked away, he made a complicated motion with his hand. On cue, at least twenty stormtroopers stood up from behind various rock formations around them and moved to follow Ren.

“Was that really necessary? We played it clean!” Rey yelled after him.

She hadn’t actually expected him to reply, so she was surprised when he called back;

“But what if you hadn’t?”  
\---  
Poe and Finn were waiting for them when they got back.

“Didn’t even get a chance to use these,” said Finn, holding up a blaster. He sounded disappointed.

Poe nodded. “I was kind of looking forward to taking a second crack at blowing a hole in his ugly face.”

“You haven’t even seen his face.”

“I just know. Attractive people don’t wear helmets like that."

"You've seen him, Rey. What does he look like?"

They both turned to look at her.

"Well . . ."

Poe put his hand over his face. " _Oh no._ He's hot, isn't he?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ch 3 either tonight or tomorrow! It's completely finished, so definitely one of the two. 
> 
> I literally cannot resist cracking jokes at Kylo Ren's expense. Poor, poor, angsty, baby.


	3. Chapter 3

Rey would have been fine with never setting foot aboard a First Order base ship again, and yet here she was. At least this time she was in Stormtrooper armor, which made her feel less conspicuous but not much safer (she’d seen them in battle-are those plates even bulletproof?)

Beside her, Finn-Stormtrooper motioned for her to turn right. They were approaching a restricted area. There were more important-looking people than Stormtroopers around, now-generals or commanders, if Rey had to guess. They would need to pass through this area to reach the upper-level maintenance room.

“You-Identification.”

Rey’s froze before realizing that the order hadn’t been directed at her. A tall soldier in black armor was staring down another group of Stormtroopers who were listing off identification numbers.

Finn didn’t run, but he absolutely power-walked up to the nearest door, which slid open. Rey followed him.  
\---  
The room inside was empty. Finn took off his helmet, tossed it on the bed, and then sat down hard.

“We should lay low for a while.”

“Who was that?”

“Captain Phasma. Avoid at all costs.”

“Your old captain?”

“Yes. Also, I may have thrown her down a trash chute. Han’s idea.”

Rey took off her helmet and looked around. She didn’t know what she would have expected of a First Order general’s bedroom, but the reality was stark and utilitarian. She saw little indication that anyone actually lived there, until her eyes settled upon a helmet.

A very familiar helmet.

“Oh no.”

“What?”

Rey pointed at the helmet, sitting innocuously on the desk. “This is Kylo Ren’s room.”

“This is-hell no.” Finn jumped up and brushed himself off, staring at the bed in horror.

There was a door to the left of the bed. Finn and Rey saw it at the same time, and then looked at each other.

Finn approached it slowly, hand on his gun. Rey wasn’t sure which prospect was more terrifying: finding Kylo Ren showering, or Kylo Ren lying in wait with a lightsaber. Both sounded like they'd result in a very quick death.

Finn kicked the door open.

After a moment, he walked inside.

“All clear,” he called, and Rey relaxed.

She turned back to the helmet. It had to be a backup, or more likely in need to repair, she realized, running her finger along a large crack. She considered putting it on. In the lenses, her reflection stared back at her.

The sound of rustling brought her back.

“What are you doing?”

“Going through his stuff,” Finn called back, from the bathroom.

“Anything good?”

“Painkillers and gauze. Some sort of medication for . . . aww, he has an eye infection. Poor guy.”

“Tragic.”

“Soap. More painkillers. Uh, moisturizer.”

“Like . . . for your skin?”

“Yeah. It smells of mint.” And then, after a moment, “It’s really soft.”

“Finn! Don’t use his moisturizer!”

“Why not?”

“Because, because, that’s, it’s not-”

Finn leaned out of the doorway and held out a bottle, smiling madly.

“Wanna try some?”

“ . . . Yes.”  
\---  
It was either one of many of Kylo Ren’s residencies, or he lived a very sad and boring life.

Or both.

Rey was lying on his bed, eating something she’d found in the bedside drawer, while Finn went through his dresser.

“What’s in that one?”

“A bunch of those black pants he always wears. What is this, elastic? Who needs pants this stretchy. Look!” He took a pair out of the dresser and threw them backwards. They hit Rey, who was not paying attention, in the face.

“They do stretch quite a lot,” she commented, after pulling at them briefly. “They’re very thin, too. Doesn’t he get cold?”

“It’s all the evil and, and crazy. Insulates him.”

Rey took another bite of whatever bready substance she’d found. It wasn’t very good, but she was stealing it from Kylo Ren which made it delicious.

“Rey, the only things in here are his uniform bits.”  
  
“Yeah?”

“There are no night bits.”

“Oh.” And then, “Oh.”

Finn shut the last drawer and sat against the wall. It must be cathartic for him, Rey realized. Something about rebellion against his oppressors. She knew wearing the uniform bothered him more than he let on.

“I suppose we’ve waited long enough.”

“Yeah.” Finn looked around the room, sadly, almost. Rey wondered if he was remembering his own room. Maybe it had looked just like this one.

“Before we leave,” he said, suddenly. “We should mess with him.”

“Mess with him? How?”

“You don’t have any poison, do you? Anything explosive?”

“No.”

“Nothing remotely toxic?”

“Well . . .”

Rey held up the medicine they’d stolen.

**Author's Note:**

> For updates/requests;
> 
> decotext.tumblr.com


End file.
